Synopses & Reviews
Today's trend in cooking leans toward more healthful foods. Gourmets seek to ferret out new flavors, aromas, textures and delights. Housewives need easy, varied and uncomplicated recipes. Executives want light meals that allow them to continue working immediately after eating without feeling weighed down. Children must have nourishing snacks to take to school. All of us want aphrodisiacs, better health, satisfying tastes, foods that are appropriate for beginning or ending a meal, healthful beverages to quench our thirst; easy and appetizing drinks, food surprises for private moments.
The solution to all of these needs lies in the universe of fruits, and the sublimation of all of these expectations can be found in tropical fruits. Colombia, located in the American tropics, with coasts on two oceans, high mountains, broad plains and jungles, has every variety of fruit or is capable of producing them. Within Colombian territory, in Old Caldas, which is the heart of the coffee growing area, the most varied species of fruit trees are concentrated in a veritable earthy paradise. This region is particularly blessed because of the exuberance of its landscape, the diversity of its vegetation and the richness of its soil, fertilized daily by volcanic ash.
Here fruit is a fundamental part of what we call the Coffee Culture, since for generations the trees that bear fruit have been vital to the landscape, providing additional income for the economy, flavor for regional customs and a further basis for the transition of good eating. In this book, with creativity and innovation, we are rescuing the best of culinary knowledge concerning the exquisite and exotic tropical fruits, many of which are just now being discovered by the palates of those living in countries with seasons. In these pages we open the door to many a healthful and marvelous epicurean adventure.
Synopsis
There is nothing more delicious nor varied than an ample assortment of tropical fruit! And there are few countries as rich as Colombia in their variety of such fruit! This 176-page book with 149 color photographs is an exquisite invitation to broaden our abilities to prepare a sound diet, by incorporating tropical fruit as a healthy, nutritional, and enjoyable component. Rich in vitamins, salts, minerals, and fiber, fruit is a very valuable food that is easy to ingest. Even though one of the most delicious ways to eat it is in its fruit form as it naturally comes on trees, tropical fruit can be served and cooked in many different manners: from a simple dessert swimming in its own syrup to sophisticated sauces that accompany other sweets, or as a seasoning with fruit flavors and textures for other sweets-and-sour foods. This book by Liliana Villegas includes sound historical and cultural information on 32 exquisite species of tropical fruit from the prodigal Colombian coffee-growing zone. It has beautiful photographs that illustrate the fruit in its natural and prepared states. It gathers the best knowledge about tropical fruit, its varieties, its culinary uses, medicinal properties and beauty treatment uses. It takes us by the hand and leads us to experience healthy, new, pleasant gastronomic experiences.
Synopsis
This is the first cooking book published by Villegas Editores. It is, just like its protagonists, an exquisite and sweet culinary sample taken from some of the most illustrious tropical children: fruits. Diverse and succulent, fruits do not only enrich a vast and delightful recipe book rich in flavours, vitamins and minerals, but also embody a diverse arsenal of medical benefits, unknown to the regular consumer. The pages of "Delicious Tropical Fruits" include a detailed history on the origin and the practical uses of each fruit, from avocado to zapote. In addition, they introduce the reader to an exquisite array of easy and delicious recipes created around these natural gifts, which are cultivated across the Colombian territory, where the versatile weather diversity offers a wide range of textures, flavours and shapes to suit every taste. Written by Liliana Villegas, the book is not only a delight for taste but also an invitation to know a long and sweet tradition that is part of Colombias culinary history. Furthermore, through time, this tradition has delighted, more and more, the most demanding palates of the world with its immensity of colours, scents and flavours.
About the Author
Liliana Villegas is not only creative and dynamic but also a fanatic of good eating. She has a deep knowledge of the Old Caldas Colombian region, and she lives, works and cooks, especially fruit recipes, in Manizales, capital city of the department. This versatile woman has explored several branches of art. She started at the textile workshop of Los Andes University, moved on to fashion, carpet, doll and interior design and finally specialized in Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design of New York and Paris. This is her third book after "IWOUYA, La Guajira a través del Tejido" (IWOUYA, Guajira Through Weaving, 1982) and "ARTEFACTOS, Objetos de la Vida Cotidiana del Viejo Caldas" (ARTEFACTOS, Every Day Crafts from Old Caldas, 1988).